Great case study! I would also like to apply more of Evernote in my classroom and was plannign to get started next year...it is so tempting to give it a try allready, but my experience tells me to make sure I am a bit in controll.

Thirty minutes. That’s the time it took a team of researchers from Ben-Gurion University in Israel to access security cameras, baby monitors, doorbells, thermostats, and other internet-of-things, not-so-smart devices. It didn’t require any special hacking techniques. Anyone can do it.

The only tools you need are at least one finger–a nose will work too–to type the brand and model of whatever device you want to hack, and a connected web browser. Put that information into a Google search box and, within a few minutes, you will find a site or a forum post somewhere describing how to enter into that device using the manufacturer’s default administration user name and password. Any pedophile, thief, ex-spouse, or regular Peeping Tom can use this information to gain access to any of these devices installed in your home. A government or criminal organization can also use these user/password combos to control many devices at once, in order to mine data, spy, or launch global internet attacks.

If a learner is to develop a sense of can, he or she must learn it. While some students have more natural confidence or initiative than others, can is slightly different than confidence. Can is a mix of knowledge and self-efficacy that has been nurtured through experience — by consistently meeting both internally and externally created goals judged by standards that are also both internally and externally drawn.

While pursuing our teaching degrees we were introduced to various learning theorists and their insights about how people learn best. Some familiar names, included Piaget, Bandura, Vygotsky, and Gardner. Although understanding these theories is still important, we also need to become familiar with theories, models, and approaches, which provide us insight on how technology, social media, and the Internet impact our learning. Digital learning theories and approaches, such as RAT, SAMR, TPACK, Digital Blooms, Connectivism, Design Thinking and Peeragogy, help teachers develop curricula that gets students to use technology to research, curate, annotate, create, innovate, problem-solve, collaborate, campaign, reform and think critically. These are skills I outline in my book, Hacking Digital Learning Strategies with EdTech Missions. Digital learning approaches consider what students are currently doing online and help us design curricula to help students gain the digital skills they need to thrive in a digitally connected world. Below are some useful links to discover more about these approaches. Another approach you might be interested is Game Design and Gamification. We are currently learning about digital learning models and approaches in the free Goal-Minded Teacher (#EduGoalsMOOC) online course, which you can still join."

Jim Lerman's insight:

Be sure to check the links to each of the 7 theories/models. This is a masterful collection of useful frameworks.

According to a new report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s science and knowledge service, Blockchain will end paper based certificates, automate the award, recognition and transfer of credits, increase learner ownership and control over their own data, reduce institutional data costs and risk–but only if open standards are adopted.

According to a new report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s science and knowledge service, Blockchain will end paper based certificates, automate the award, recognition and transfer of credits, increase learner ownership and control over their own data, reduce institutional data costs and risk–but only if open standards are adopted.

"Educational innovators can come from any background and be any age. In our program, we see educators, principals, business people, computer scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, people who work in non-profits, recent undergraduates, and more. As George Couros explains it, innovation is a mindset.

"Often, educational innovators are teachers interested in using their expertise to create a professional brand. Once an innovation is developed, a frequent next step is to consider how and if the innovation can scale. For example, alongside content creation technologies are the emergence of digital marketplaces where creators can sell their work. Educational innovators might:

Interesting piece about educational innovators (mostly teachers) and how their interests and drive might lead to their career growth and development. Written by the head of the new Master's program in Educational Innovation, Technology & Entrepreneurship (MEITE) at Univ. of North Carolina, the article is kind of a pitch for their program, but contains useful information nonetheless.

Teachers and parents, use these picture books to model the process of writing a story. Some of these books show how writers get ideas. Others show the challenges of plotting and drafting the words in a story. All are about a part of the process of storytelling. Kids need plenty of these examples to encourage them as they develop their own story telling abilities.

You’ll want to look for books that meet your children where they are. What are your children or students struggling with currently? Is it finding ideas? Start there. Maybe it’s facing the challenges that come with writing a draft. I’ve divided the list into three parts: Finding an Idea, Plotting and Drafting, and The Writer’s Life and Getting Published.

Who says children's books can't teach us the craft of writing? I had no idea of the number of creative and adorable books on the subject.. Wish I had some of these when I was in school. Better late than never.

***This review was written by Penelope Silvers for her curated content on "Writing Rightly"***

Education may be the passport to the future, but for all the good teaching out there, it would seem that schools are failing to impart some of the most important life skills, according to one educational expert.

Dr. Tony Wagner, co-director of Harvard's Change Leadership Group, argues that today’s school children are facing a “global achievement gap”, which is the gap between what even the best schools are teaching and the skills young people need to learn.

This has been exacerbated by two colliding trends: firstly, the global shift from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy, and secondly, the way in which today’s school children – brought up with the internet – are motivated to learn.

In his book The Global Achievement Gap, Wagner identifies seven core competencies every child needs in order to survive in the coming world of work.

In his book The Global Achievement Gap, Wagner identifies seven core competencies every child needs in order to survive in the coming world of work. 1. Critical thinking and problem-solving 2. Collaboration across networks and leading by influence 3. Agility and adaptability 4. Initiative and entrepreneurialism 5. Effective oral and written communication 6. Accessing and analysing information 7. Curiosity and imagination

Education may be the passport to the future, but for all the good teaching out there, it would seem that schools are failing to impart some of the most important life skills, according to one educational expert.

Dr. Tony Wagner, co-director of Harvard's Change Leadership Group, argues that today’s school children are facing a “global achievement gap”, which is the gap between what even the best schools are teaching and the skills young people need to learn.

This has been exacerbated by two colliding trends: firstly, the global shift from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy, and secondly, the way in which today’s school children – brought up with the internet – are motivated to learn.

In his book The Global Achievement Gap, Wagner identifies seven core competencies every child needs in order to survive in the coming world of work.

Great Schools Partnership continues to produce great resources to support states and districts converting to competency education. They have drawn from what districts are doing in New England and have created Proficiency-based Learning Simplified resources. They are a good resource for states, districts and schools to start the conversation about the new policies and practices that need to be put in place.

We know that we are on a journey, and its a creative one, so don’t be surprised if you find that you want to take these ideas further or that you come up with other ways to address the policy and practice elements. No matter what, these resources will save you time in getting started and structuring the conversations needed to build clarity and consensus.

Unless you have been living under a rock, you probably make regular use of Google search, as your default research assistant. Most people just use the basic Google search box, type in what they are looking to find, and then sift through the results. Google search is capable of so much more, and using the advanced Google search tips outlined in this article, will make your life much easier.

This is an edited excerpt from “How to Teach Computational Thinking,” first published by Stephen Wolfram on Sept. 7, 2016.

Pick any field “X,” from archaeology to zoology. There either is now a “computational X”, or there soon will be. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, farmers, whatever—the future of all these professions will be full of computational thinking. Whether it’s sensor-based medicine, computational contracts, education analytics or agriculture—success is going to rely on being able to do computational thinking well.

Computational thinking is going to be a defining feature of the future, and it’s an incredibly important thing to be teaching to kids today. But where does it fit into the standard educational curriculum? The answer, I think, is simple: everywhere!

You’ve probably experienced the frustration of being distracted at work. Perhaps you were pulled into a never-ending Slack discussion, and when it finally ended you struggled to focus on the task you were working on. Or a coworker criticized you, and now you can’t stop replaying his comments in your head.

It’s totally normal to lose focus after a period of time (which is why you should be taking regular breaks). But if you find yourself easily distracted throughout the day, you might want to consider tweaking some of your morning habits. They probably won’t eliminate all distractions, but you’ll at least start your workday strong building a good foundation for the rest of the day.

6 Morning Habits - very interesting! I've never considered a couple of them. The "Eat a Different Frog" is one of them. I like the walking in the morning, although a really difficult one for me to do, while I'm a morning person the thought of walking in the rain really early in the morning is not appealing. The cold shower suggesting, hmmm, I may go for lukewarm perhaps that will help.

You’ve probably experienced the frustration of being distracted at work. Perhaps you were pulled into a never-ending Slack discussion, and when it finally ended you struggled to focus on the task you were working on. Or a coworker criticized you, and now you can’t stop replaying his comments in your head.

"Educational innovators can come from any background and be any age. In our program, we see educators, principals, business people, computer scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, people who work in non-profits, recent undergraduates, and more. As George Couros explains it, innovation is a mindset.

"Often, educational innovators are teachers interested in using their expertise to create a professional brand. Once an innovation is developed, a frequent next step is to consider how and if the innovation can scale. For example, alongside content creation technologies are the emergence of digital marketplaces where creators can sell their work. Educational innovators might:

Interesting piece about educational innovators (mostly teachers) and how their interests and drive might lead to their career growth and development. Written by the head of the new Master's program in Educational Innovation, Technology & Entrepreneurship (MEITE) at Univ. of North Carolina, the article is kind of a pitch for their program, but contains useful information nonetheless.

The benefits of peer and self-assessment are numerous and incontrovertible. However, students must have access to official mark schemes and model answers for the process to work properly, and they must be involved in actually correcting their work (not just ‘ticking’ and ‘crossing’ and working out a score/percentage).

Students need to be trained in proper peer-assessment. Do not tolerate over-generosity: collect the work in afterwards and double-check that it was marked properly.

"Given class sizes, teaching loads, and a host of other academic responsibilities, many teachers feel as though multiple-choice tests are the only viable option. Their widespread use justifies a regular review of those features that make these tests an effective way to assess learning and ongoing consideration of those features that compromise how much learning they promote."

"Based in Arlington, Virginia, the NewseumEd is a museum dedicated to all things journalism. For educators and librarians, the NewseumEd hosts a wealth of materials related to media literacy, including interactive activities, lesson plans, case studies, printable posters, and more. Most of these materials are aimed toward middle school, high school, or university level students. In one 30-60 minute lesson plan, "E.S.C.A.P.E. Junk News", students learn a helpful acronym for critically evaluating the news stories (Evaluate, Source, Context, Audience, Purpose, and Execution). Students then examine a contemporary news article with the aid of a helpful graphic organizer. In another activity, "Believe it or Not: When the News Media Makes Mistakes," students examine corrections printed in newspapers and other media sources and learn how to use an "accuracy checklist." While most of these resources are designed to help readers critically examine contemporary news media, other materials in the collection center on historical news coverage. For example, one activity addresses turn-of-the-century journalism regarding the women's suffrage movement, while another explores mid-twentieth century reporting of the Civil Rights Movement. "

With the help of the California Academy of Sciences, teachers can design Life Science, Earth Science, Astronomy, or Physical Science lessons around current research and experiments, or use one of the site's free K-12 lesson plans or unit studies in an even wider variety of subjects. Take your time exploring the website. Many of their resources are difficult to locate through browsing but can be found through the excellent search options instead. Or, try bookmarking the more robust areas, such as lesson plans and topic videos.

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